The Leduc D–3 pool was discovered in 1947 at a depth of 5,300 ft and is one of Canada's major oil fields. The relatively thin oil zone covers an area of 21,640 acres and originally contained more than 400 million bbl of oil in place. It is overlain by a large gas cap and underlain by more than 900 ft of water-bearing reef.
The history of this pool has been outstanding in many ways. The early behavior of the reservoir was dominated by the effects of a wild well which blew oil and gas for six months. Subsequent history indicated that the recovery mechanism consisted almost entirely of gas cap and water drives; however, during 1953, an increase in the rate of pressure decline indicated interference by neighboring pools through a common aquifer. A cooperative committee including almost all Leduc D–3 operators was formed and water injection was instituted in Sept., 1955, to maintain the reservoir pressure and eliminate further shrinkage losses. This project is unique in that pressure is being maintained uniformly throughout the pool with the use of only one injection well which is capable of taking more than 65,000 B/D on vacuum. After one-quarter of the oil in place had been produced, the increase in gas-oil ratio was slight and only one of 535 wells had been abandoned. This pool saw the first application of tubing-submergence completions in Canada and these wells, like most of those completed in a more conventional manner, are still capable of flowing production at rates in excess of 100 B/D without harmful effects.
Discovery of the Leduc field in 1947 made oil history in Canada. After more than a decade of fruitless wildcatting in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, exploration activity moved northward and Imperial Leduc 1 was spudded 12 miles southwest of the City of Edmonton in Central Alberta.
